Car roof



June 12, 1923. 1,458,385

C. D. BONSALL CAR ROOF Filed Dec., 2 192i I il l' 4'nl Patented lune l2, i923@ CHARLES DAVID BONSLL, OF ITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANA, ASSIGNOR TO P. H.

MURPHY CDMPNY, GF NL Application filed December 2, 192i.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, @Hannes Davie loN- sALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Pittsburgh. in the county of Allegheny and State oit Pennsylvania7 have invented a certain new and use ful Improvement in Car Roots7 oit which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to flexible outside metal car roofs of the general type shown in C. C. Murphy Patent, No. LlSAQSS dated March 20, 1915, wherein the root sheets are pivoted near their ridge ends to the root shea-thing and are connected along their side and ridge margins by flexible seams; and it relates particularly to the ridge construction of roofs of this type. In roots ot this typ-e, the roof sheets are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the ridge and, heretofore1 the two sheets ot each pair have been pivoted to the roof substructure by means of ridge anchor saddles, which are pivotally secured to the ridge of the car and have raised pivot bosses that fit within similar raised pivot bosses formed in the root sheets near their ridge ends. ln such earlier constructions.y the roof sheet bosses are heldv down on the anchor saddle bosses by means ot extra running board saddles whose under sides are recessed to receive the root sheet bosses7 whereby said roof sheets are free to pivot or slue on the root substructurm but are held from slipping ott the eaves. The principal objects of the present invention are to pivotally secure the roof sheets in. place without the use ot the bossed ridge anchor saddles and without the use ot the extra rnnning board saddles and thereby save the cost thereof: to eliminate the bossing of the roof sheets and thereby save the cost ot the bossing operation; and to locate the pivotal securing means outside of the sheets and entirely within the ridge covers.

'The invention consists principallyin an anchor member 'for holdin the sheets down on the car and for preventing bodily more ment thereof crosswise of the can said member also functioning as pivot for the roof sheetsfto turn en in aceemmodatingv themselves to the various distortions oit the car substructure; and the invention 'further consists in the arrangements and combina tions of parts hereinafter more fully de scribed and claimed.

noos.

serial no. 519,305.

lfn the accompanying drawing, which forms part cipr this specification and wherein like reifer-ence numerals re'ter to like parts wherever they occur.

Fig. l is a plan view ot a portion ot a car root provided with a pivot anchor member embodying my invention, parts being broken away to more clearly illustrate the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse cross-section through the ridge portion ot the car roof, the section being taken through one of the pivot anchor members on the line 2 2 in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is fragmentary plan view of the ridge portion of the roof in the region of one of the pivot anchor members. the ridge seam cap being broken away to disclose the anchor member;

Fig. 4f is a transverse cross-section similar to Fig. 2, the pivot anchor member being shown in end elevation; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevation ot a detached pivot anchor member.

The root illustrated in the accompanying drawing comprises roof.' sheathing boards 6, supporting at the eaves by side plates 7, and at the ridge by a ridge pole 8. Metal roof sheets 9 are arranged in pairs on opposite sides ot the ridge, the two sheets of a pair being` disposed end to end crosswise of the car and spaced apart trom each other on opposite sides ot the ridge and Vlrom adjacent pairs along); their side margins. Mullions or battens l0. secured to the roof sheatine` between the side margins ot the sheets, and are of less width than the space between the side margins of the sheets. The root sheets are held down on the car at the eaves by means or' flashing strips ll, which are secured to the side plates and have doubled-bach portions l2 adapted to interloclr with the doubled-under eaves portions oie the roof sheets.

rlhe side margins el adjacent roof sheets, together with the mullions located therebetweem covered by channel-shaped transverse seam covers 13 whose sidewalls interlock with the side seam flanges lil of the roof sheets. The transverse seam covers 13 extend trom ridge to eaves, and are held down at .il c. eaves by turning their eaves ends under the doubled-back portions 12 of the :dashing eaves strips ll., or in any other de sirable manner. The ridge ends of the trans verse seam covers 13 are secured to the car by meansl or" four-way ridge corner caps 15.

The roof sheets are provided at their ridge ends with raised rebent lianges, which form hollow ribs lb. The spaced ridge ribs 16 are straddled by channel-shaped ridge seam covers 18, whose adjacent ends are covered by the ridge corner caps 15 and are held in proper alinement thereby. The corner caps 15 are secured to the substructure by means of bolts 19. whichr also secure the ruiming board saddles 20 in position. Running boards 21 are secured to the running board saddles 20, which rest on the transverse seam covers 19, and are supported by the mul/lions 10, thus permitting movement of the" roof sheets under the ridge and transverse seam covers.

The ridge ends or" each pair of oppositely disposed roof sheets are held down on the roof substructure by means of a sheet metal pivot anchor member 22, which also serves to space the sheets apart at the ridge and to prevent bodily movement of said sheets crosswise of .the car. The anchor members 22 are located between the ridge ends of each pair of oppositely arranged roo'l sheets midway between their side margins and are secured in place by bolts 23, which extend through the root sheathing and ridge pole. Each anchormember 22 comprises a flat body portion, whose side margins a e provided with raised rebent {ianges that form hollow ribs 24- which overlap and embrace the spaced ridge ribs 16 ot oppositely arranged sheets.

The hollow ribs 24 of the anchor members or clips 22 form, downwardly opening grooves or channels 17 on opposite sides of the clips. The side walls of each rib 24- of an anchor member are curved in opposite directions away vfrom each other (that is from the middle towards each end), thus y forming opposing convex surfaces in walls ot the grooves or channels 17 formed by the said hollow ribs, whereby the distance between the opposing side walls ot each downwardly opening groove is a minimum midway ot' the length of the grooves and increases gradually toward each end thereof. The width of the grooves 17 midwayv of their length corresponds to the width of the ridge ribs 16, whereby the grooves snugly embrace said ribs at the middle ot the ridge ends of the sheets and thus main-- tain a proper spacing oit the ridge ends of the sheets and prevent bodily movement of said sheets crosswise of the car.

By reason of the double convexity ot the grooves 17 of the anchor member, each side of a groove 17 contacts with the adjacent side of a roof sheet ribA 16 along one line only, with the result that each root sheet et an oppositely arranged pair has pivotal tangential contact with both walls of a groove of said anchor member, whereby said rooie sheets are permitted to slue or oscil.

late about the engaging or contacting por tions of the anchor members in response to the weaving ofthe car frame.

The principal advantagesV of the arrangement described is that it eliminates the yextra ruiming board saddles,'the bossed anchor saddles and wholly eliminatesthe need for the expensive operation of bossing the roei sheets. v f

rThe invention is not restrictedl to the pre cise forms and arrangements shown and described. v 4

What I claim is 1. A flexible car roof comprising root sheets spaced apart along their adjacent margins and having hollow ribs extending lengthwise thereof, and an anchor member secured to ythe car between the spaced margins of adjacent sheets, `said anchor member engaging both walls yof the rib of an anchor member located within said seamv cover and secured to the car between the spaced margins of adjacent sheets, said anchor member lengaging' both walls of the ribs of adjacent sheets to prevent bodily movement thereo'ttowards and away `from each other, the surfaces of said member that engage both walls of the rib otra sheet being curved in opposite directions, whereby said anchor member has tangential contact with each wall of a rib, thereby permitting said sheets to slue about the contacting portions of the anchor member.

3. A flexible car root comprising roof sheets oppositely larranged on each side oit the ridge and having raised rebent flanges' at their ridge ends, a seam cover straddling the ridge flanges of oppositelyV arranged sheets, and an anchor member located beneath said ridge cap and secured to the'car between the middle of the ridge ends. of said oppositely arranged sheets, said anchor member having oppositely curved surfaces that engage the middle portions of both walls of the ridge flanges of oppositely arranged sheets to prevent bodily movement `thereof crosswise of the car andto permit sluing of said sheets about the contacting portions of the reversely curved surfaces of said anchor member. f

4. A flexible car roof comprisingroof sheets spaced apart yalong their adjacent margins, and an anchor member secured to the car between the spaced margins of adjacent sheets, the adjacent margins of said sheets and said anchormember being formed with cooperating rib and groove portions respectively that extend lengthwise of said margins and prevent bodily movement of the sheets towards and awa-y from each other, the side walls of each pair of said cooperating rib and groove portions having tangential contact with each other, thereby permitting the sheets to slue in response to the weaving of the car frame.

A flexible ear roof comprising roof sheets spaced apart along their adjacent margins, and an anchor member secured to the roof between adjacent sheets, the adjacent margins of said sheets and said anchor members being each formed with raised rebent iianges, the adjacent marginal flanges of said sheets and said anchor member being overlapped, the side walls of each pair of lapped flanges of said sheets and said anchor member having tangential contact with each other, thereby preventing bodily movement of adjacent sheets towards and away from each other and permitting sluing of the sheets in response to the weaving of the car frame.

61A flexible car roof comprising roof sheets oppositely arranged on each side of the ridge, an anchor member secured to the roof between the spaced ridge ends of said oppositely arranged sheets, the adjacent side margins of said sheets and said anchor member being formed with vlapped hollow ribs adapted to prevent bodily movement of the sheets cross-wise of the car, and seam covers spanning the lapped hollow ribs of said sheets and said anchor member, the side walls of one rib of a lapped pair being reversely curved lengthwise thereof, whereby the reversely curved side walls of one rib of apair have tangential contact with the side walls of the other rib of said pair, thereby permitting the sheets to slue in response to the weaving of the car frame.v

fr'. A flexible car roof comprising -roof sheets spaced apart along their adjacent margins which are formed with raised ribs, and an anchor member secured to the car between the spaced marginsI of adjacent sheets and having hollow raised ribs that extend lengthwise of said margins and lap the raised marginal ribs of adjacent sheets, the side walls of the ribs of the anchor member having tangential contact with the side walls of the marginal ribs of the sheets.

8. A flexible car roof comprising roof sheets oppositely arranged on each side of the ridge and having raised rebent flanges at their ridge ends, a seam cover spanning the ridge ends of oppositely arranged sheets,

and an anchor member securedl to the car between the spaced ridge ends of oppositely arranged sheets and having 'raised rebent flanges adapted to fit over the ridge flanges of oppositely arranged sheets to hold thesheet down onv the car and to prevent bodily movementof said sheets crosswise thereof, the sidewalls of the fianges ofsaid anchor member having tangential contact with the side walls of the ridge flanges, thereby permitting the sheets to slue about-the contacting portions of the ancho-r member flanges 'in response to distort-ions of the car frame.

9. A flexible car roo-f comprising roof sheets oppositely arranged on each side of the ridge and having raised rebent flanges at their ridge ends, and an anchor member secured to the car between the spaced ridge endsof oppositely arranged sheets and having raised rebent flanges adapted to fit over the .ridge flanges of oppositely arranged sheets, the side walls of the anchor member flanges being reversely curved tfrom end to end whereby the sides of the anchor member flanges have taifgential contact with the sides of the roof sheet flanges.

10. A flexible car roof comprising roof sheets oppositely arranged on each side of .the ridge and having raised ribs at their ridge ends, an anchor member secured to the car between the ridge ends of said sheets, said anchor member having downwardly opening grooves formed therein adapted to straddle the ribs of oppositely (arrangedl sheets, said grooves being wider at the ends than at the middle, thereby permitting a limited angular movement of said ridge ribs in said grooves.

11. A flexible car roo-f comprising roof sheets oppositely arranged on each side of the ridge and having raised ribs at their' ridge ends, a `seam cover straddling the ridge ribs of oppositely arranged sheets, and an anchor member located within said cap and secured to the car roof between the spaced ridge ribs of said oppositely arranged sheets, said anchor member being formed with downwardly opening grooves which straddle the ridge ribs of oppositely arranged sheets, the walls of said grooves being reversely curved from end to end thereof forming convex surfaces that have tangential contact with the ridge ribs located therein.

12. As an article of manufacture, an anchor member for ribbed car roof sheets, said anchor member having longitudinally extending oppositely curved surfaces adapted for tangential engagement with both side walls of the rib of a roof sheet to prevent bodily movement of said sheet and to permit sluing thereof. Y

13. As an article of manufacture, an anchor member for a pair of op ositely arranged car roof sheets whose adjacent marvgins are provided with ribs, said anchor member being adapted lto be secured to the car between the ribs of said oppositely arranged Vsheets and having longitudinally extending grooves formed therein adapted to embrace `a rib of' a sheet, the side Walls of vsaid grooves being convex to permit a limited angular movement of the ribs there- 1n. i l

14. Ae an article of manufacture, an anchor clip for a pair of oppositely arranged Pa. this 28th vday 20 

